The Adamant World
by Maggie Solmacia
Summary: In the middle of the war with the Carthakis, two teenage girls from another world enter into Tortall, intertwining their destinies with those of this world. Their story will be a great one, the only question is, will they live to tell it?


The bell rang through the classrooms, and the empty halls. Immediately, the students jumped from their seats and hurried for the doors.

A lone girl slowly stood up, as though unaware of her surroundings. She deliberately took her time to neatly arrange the papers she had been working on.

'I could learn to hate that bell,' she said silently to herself, as she gave an inward sigh.

"Did you not hear the bell Hayley?" an aging man asked, his hand running through his grayish hair.

"No, I'm stalling," she said, a small, faint smile crossing her features. "Goodbye Mr. Kon. I'll see you tomorrow," Hayley said as she made her way to the door, and walked silently to lunch.

She sat at the table farthest from the entrance. Plopping down on the benches used for seats, she fished through her backpack, trying to find her most likely flat sandwich.

"So, what's up with you Hayley?" a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes asked her.

Considering not giving a response, she just settled for the normal, 'nothing much, and you'. It didn't matter, Madison never listened anyway.

"So, Like, Oh my god! I can't believe that I have to choose one of them." Madison said, referring to Jt and Matt, the boys she had declared her undying love for.

'Why do I even try?' Hayley asked herself, as Madison looked at her, expecting a sympathetic reply.

"You aren't listening to ME!" Madison cried, her voice coated with annoyance, in fact, it was the very same annoyance that Hayley felt towards her.

Chole, joining the conversation, like she normally did, sat next to Madison, and gave her unwanted "insight" on the entire situation.

"Madison. She-in fact we all- have better things to do then spending our entire lunch listening to you whine about those boys. We don't care. Well, I know that I don't care, and that Hayley probably doesn't care, but is too nice to say anything," Madison rolled her eyes at this comment, muttering incoherent words.

"Do you have a point Chole, or are you just trying to annoy me? Because if it is the later then leave, because I have no patience for this at the moment. I have a very big choice to make, and if I screw this up, well, it will be bad," Madison whined, acting like a child who had just been told she couldn't have any sweets before dinner.

"No point, just giving my revered insight," Chole said, and a look of satisfaction came over her features as she realized Madison didn't know what 'revered' meant.

"You gifted geeks," Madison said, adopting the nickname she saved for her friends when they were being annoying.

"Madison, Chole SHUT UP. I have a headache. If you must continue to bicker do it elsewhere," Hayley said, her voice deathly quiet, but she could have yelled at them. She would have gotten the same reaction. So they simply watched as their friend storm off, in silence, their mouths hanging slightly open.

It was pouring down rain outside, which suited Hayley perfectly. She was not in a sunshiny mood. All that mattered was that she finally had peace and quiet. Her head with throbbing, and she was almost certain it would burst soon if the pain did not stop. She laid her head in her hands, trying desperately to make the pain stop.

She couldn't.

All that she had done was make it so that she saw little bright lights when she brought up her head.

There was that first inpulse of pain, but then the lights subsided, and, looking closer, she saw a glint of metal that should not have been there. Picking it up, she recongized it as something out of a fantasy book. It was a single tear-drop stone, with a burning fire incased in the purple outer shell. There were ruins on the outer edges, in some distant language she hadn't studied yet.

'I'll ask Penny' Hayley thought as she put the stone around her neck. She turned her head just in time to see her eighth grade friend running through the rain.

"You okay Cat?" she asked as she eyed her friend susptiously. As Hayley nodded, Penny's eyes fell unto the newly adorned necklace.

"Cat-" she began nervously asher eyes looked at the ruins around the edges, taking them in.

"Yeah,"Hayley asked as she watched her friend's face go from consern to confustion to understanding.

"Hayley,do you want to have an adventure?" Penny asked as sheunclasped the necklace from Hayley's neck, and placed it aroundboth her wrist and Hayley's.

"Sure, but whatdoyou mean adventure?"she asked her friend, but Penny held up her hand, and began to chant in an unknown laugage.

"Envosshvea tre delataoro. En partia hen," was all she could hear before she was sweptaway fropm her reality. swirlingin colors asshe saw scenes unfold before her. But before she could scream in protest, she and Penny were dropped in the middleofno where.

Or so she thought.

A short woman with red hair and firey purple eyessaw the two girls fall, and asumedone of the many fighting stances she had been taught, and calmly said, "and what do I owethe pleasure of you two girls? Because judging by your clothing you aren't from here. I advise that you tell me quickly where you are from, before I am forced to well, force it out of you,".

"Penny, what is going on?" Hayley asked, but when she looked over at her best friend, she saw her slumped on the ground.

"Please, I don't know who you are, but can you help me!" Hayley said she she eyed Penny's condition.

"That's news. Are you sure you don't know who I am?

"What? Right now I need your help. Please?" her voice was pleading, something she never ever did, but it was an emergency.

"Okay I will." The woman siad with a sigh.


End file.
